August 2010 Home Town Hot Rodding

1965 Plymouth Belvedere
Inspiration
Like the mall is to teenage girls, 555 Race Shop in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania, was to Paul Haye growing up. Owner Ken Montgomery built some really famous Mopars over the years, including a '65 Belvedere A990 race car. Even before getting his license, Paul fell in love with the cars Ken built, and wished he could build one just like it. He's had more than a few Mopars over the years, but none like the Belvedere he has today.

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Though decades had passed, Paul never forgot about his dream car and when he saw one up for sale in inner-city Philadelphia, he jumped on it. The car was engineless and stripped of interior workings, but that was OK since Paul had a plan for it. He wanted to take what he learned from snooping at the race shop and build a car inspired by Ken's '65.

Paul really wanted to do this one right, so before putting any new parts on he got the car dipped to rid it of any paint, filler, or rust. This gave him the platform to put together a car from scratch and he wouldn't take any shortcuts. While still in bare metal, he had GMD Motorsports build subframe connectors and narrow the rear framerails to allow for a tightened Alston ladder-bar suspension. GMD fit the 9-inch between the newly placed rails for the wide tire he would need. Before being passed off to be assembled, Paul sent it over to Crozier Body Shop in Weston, Ohio, to get the thing as straight as possible. There he had both quarter-panels replaced along with the smoothing and finishing of the rest of the panels.

2/11

When it came to the motor choice, Paul didn't see that he had one; it had to be a Hemi. He wouldn't consider a motor built by anyone but Ken Montgomery. Ken assembled a 426 Hemi with a mix of factory and aftermarket components to help it perform well, but keep it true to its roots, like the rest of the car.

3/11

Paul's daughter, Jennifer, was always eager to lend a helping hand in the garage when she was younger and is a die-hard Mopar fan, thanks to her pops. She took the photos you see here and currently runs a photography studio in Toledo, Ohio.

1967 AMC Rebel
Real Driver
Bob Kenworthy of Aurora, Colorado, likes to venture off the beaten path when it comes to his rides. He got his start wrenching alongside pops on the front lawn of their apartment assembling their '23 T-bucket back in the '70s. He learned to make do with the resources available and build the best cars he could. His first was a '71 2.0L Pinto. He kept the four-cylinder in place and hopped it up enough to stomp the V-8 competition on the streets. In the 30 years since, he's owned almost 100 cars, among them were Chevys, Fords, and Mopars, but his favorites were the AMC cars. He's had 12 of them over that 30-year span, including this '67 Rebel.

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When Bob first saw this Rebel he was really interested in it, but it wasn't for sale. After keeping an eye on it for a couple years, he saw it wearing a for sale sign, and pounced. The car's paint was in great shape, which was the biggest selling point. He replaced the floor panels, rebuilt the front suspension, and pitched the three-speed for a modern five-speed. The original engine was sound, but he still couldn't leave that be and added EFI, among other things. Like most cars past the 40-year mark, it had some problems, but nothing Bob couldn't handle.

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This isn't a show car or a racer, but a driver. Bob wanted to be able to enjoy this car on the road more than anyplace else. That's why the five-speed swap was so important. He also added air conditioning to keep him and his family cool. Back in the day when he had an AMX he would have to trailer it to the car shows since the two-seater couldn't fit his whole family. But now Bob can drive this AMC everywhere with them, and that was the whole point!

1974 Chevrolet Nova
Transformer
There's no doubt the hobby of building cars is a great one to share with your family. It gives kids a good work ethic and can keep them out of trouble. Gerry Gaida and son Ron had been knocking around the idea of building a car together, but it wasn't until Ron was in his 30s that they could do it.

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Gerry was knee-deep in the world of cars when he was shipped out to serve in the Vietnam War. When he finally got back, it was time to build a family, rather than cars. He raised three boys with his wife and served as a law enforcement agent for the U.S. Army until he retired six years ago. He and Ron had talked about building a car together for years and now was the time. They found a California-born rust-free '74 Nova and began the build together. Though it was rust free, it wasn't damage free. The grille was cracked and needed to be replaced. Like most folks, they weren't huge fans of the massive heavy bumpers of the '74 model, so they replaced them along with the grille and hood with metal from a '72. What's better than buying a '72 Nova? Buying a '74 for half the price and converting it to look like a '72

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The father and son team did all of the customization and assembly work themselves, but left some things to the experts. Anyone who's dabbled in the art of automotive painting knows it's a difficult thing to produce at home. After the '72 panels were fit, they took the car over to Factory Finish Auto Body in Lindenhurst, Illinois, to get covered in Black Cherry paint.

They frequent the car shows, but also like to stretch the Nova's legs at the dragstrip. Their low 11-second timeslips prove their MAS Performance 377ci small-block Chevy crate engine was a great investment. It runs on pump gas and is a well-mannered street car, thanks to reasonable engine components. Despite that, they've got the engine out for a solid-roller camshaft swap and a more race-style torque converter for more power and better launches.

Mothers Picture Perfect Award
This is the place to show off your pride and joy to the rest of mankind, so we figure those readers who took the time to capture a really cool shot of their hot rod should get a little bonus. Mothers agreed, and decided to come to the party with some freebies for the best picture submitted to PHR.

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Each month, the editors at PHR will sift through the images and pick the one with the best composition, lighting, and overall quality. The winner will get a cool assortment of Mothers products to keep his or her ride looking nice and shiny. Mail us a CD with digital images in JPEG form, along with a written description of your car. Remember that digital images need to be 300 dpi, and the bigger the image, the larger it can run. Also, be sure to include info on the car, along with your name and address. Good luck!